Trump opened the door to ugliness. Now the mini-Trumps are rising

Of all the weird things occurring in the US right now (Measles are back! Cold War with Canada!) one of the strangest has been the rise of the Trump clones.

Their origin dates back to 2016. As the then Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination, Trump infamously declared that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters. It’s, like, incredible.”

Marvelling at the prospect of engaging in criminal behaviour while retaining electability, Trump went on to prove his hypothesis, notching up convictions for sexual assault and defamation and 34 counts of falsifying business records in a hush money case involving his affair with a porn star. He was then elected president again.

Now, as the US heads towards November midterm elections, Trump’s revelation that acts of violence, immorality and criminality no longer preclude running for public office has seemingly become normalised. It’s now incredible if a candidate running for office in the US doesn’t have a skeleton in the closet. Or tattooed to his chest, as in the case of the former Democratic Senate candidate for Maine, Graham Platner, whose skull-and-crossbones tattoo, which closely resembled the Nazi Totenkopf, caused a minor furore. Fortunately for Platner, these days there’s a higher tolerance for white supremacist-adjacent tattoos among holders of high office in the US, (as evinced by Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth’s ink), so it wasn’t until allegations of sexual assault were made against him that Platner finally exited the race in July.

Referring to the situation in Maine, conservative commentator Greg Price, wrote on X: “It’s truly hysterical how Democrats can’t seem to find one normal dude to run for office”, which would have been a solid partisan burn about the importance of candidate quality control in the midterm elections, if only Brandon Herrera and Ken Paxton didn’t exist.

Herrera is a Republican candidate running for congress in Texas. A gun influencer who boasted about owning a copy of Mein Kampf, Herrera has made jokes about using homeless people for target practice and has referred to women as “fat bitches” and “whores”. In a video, Herrera refers to the Nazi submachine gun he is wielding as the “original ghetto blaster” and “Hitler’s street sweeper”. He also coined a vulgar epithet for children, which is unprintable. It’s a measure of the current “When he goes low, we go lower” standard set by Trump that Herrera is running as the Trump-endorsed candidate for the GOP: the same party that only days ago at the Republican convention in Dallas, Vice President JD Vance positioned as the champion of family values.

Meanwhile, Ken Paxton, the Republican Texas Attorney General and Trump-endorsed Senate candidate, is facing a formidable opponent; not the Democrat candidate, James Talarico, but rather himself. As The New York Times reported, Paxton has been “indicted on charges of felony securities fraud and impeached ... [on allegations] of bribery, dereliction of duty, obstruction of justice and abuse of the public trust, and other misdeeds.” Paxton’s wife has accused her conservative Christian husband of adultery and filed for divorce on “biblical grounds”. If that’s not enough, Talarico’s team turned security footage of Paxton stealing a $US1000 Montblanc pen into a campaign ad.

When asked by a New York Times reporter why he thought voters stuck with him, given he’s been indicted, impeached and accused of adultery, Paxton invoked the Fifth Avenue amendment, replying: “Why does the base stick with President Trump, when you can say all those same things?”

Paxton’s touching “Whither thou goest, I will go” declaration of fealty to the dishonourable example set by Trump reveals just how deep the rot has gone. US politicians are no longer required to deny, explain or even blush when accused of immoral or criminal behaviour. The “Trump did it first” defence works for almost any situation an ethically compromised politician might find themselves accused of: racism, misogyny, lying, corruption, sexual abuse, colonising Venezuela or unauthorised building works.

However, Trump’s ability to defy political gravity doesn’t appear to work for all of his would-be mini clones, as illustrated by the growing roll-call of candidates from both sides who have slunk away in shame during this scandal-plagued electoral cycle.

Sexual misconduct claims forced Democrat congressman, Eric Swalwell to drop out of the California governor’s race in April. The same day, Republican Texas congressman, Tony Gonzales resigned, after admitting to an affair with a staffer, who had later died by suicide. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat congresswoman from Florida, also resigned after being indicted on embezzlement charges. In August, North Carolina Republican, Chuck Edwards, dropped his re-election bid following allegations of sexual harassment by his young female staffers.

Grimly hanging on is Republican Ohio congressman, Max Miller, who is still running for re-election despite horrific domestic violence allegations against him. Miller’s ex-wife is the daughter of Republican senator, Bernie Moreno who wrote on X: “If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them.”

Herein lies the pre-eminent problem of the Trumpian age: no-one appears to know any more what the basic standards of character required to hold elected office are. From the top down, this is no longer politics as public service. Instead, it’s a permission structure for the unscrupulous to act with impunity.

It’s dire news for those hoping that the malfeasance of the Trump era will end when he leaves office in 2029. Whether Republican or Democrat, every US politician attempting to wield dissolute power without consequence continues his legacy.

As the attack of the clones continues, it’s hard not to think wistfully of a former US president who stated: “Character is the most important qualification the president of the United States can have.”

Well said, Richard Nixon.

Melanie La’Brooy is a novelist who writes on politics and social justice issues.

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